Republicans on Welfare play a private party in Kenosha
Click on the photo above to go to the complete photo set.

I first met the Republicans on Welfare at a small party they had been hired to play and I had been hired to photograph. I knew of them because Frank of Pistofficer, another KenoCore group, had mentioned they would be playing a gig together at a Kenosha bar on the coming weekend.

I love punk. Since the Sex Pistols,  Ramones and Voidoids had releasing their first albums I have been a fan. Punk has a certain reckless abandon and feeling of "fuck you" that it's irresistible to the common malcontent. The power chords are like a crazy desperate musical heartbeat.

Pistofficer on the stage at Hattrix, joined by a very large friend of the band, left.
Click on the photo above to go to the complete photo set.

Three days after the private show I saw the Republicans again, this time as the lead off band in a four group hard core show, playing with Pistofficer among other groups. I hadn't been to Hattrix since it was the Cavern and my friends rock fusion band played there ten years ago.

This was a perfect venue for a punk show - the room was dark, black I think and the ceiling was low. It hadn't been called the Cavern for nothing.

The shots of both the Republicans and  Pistofficer could only be taken from one of two angles, about 30 degrees from either side of the stage. Those were the only safe places, the only spots to stand it when a photographer could be without having some black clad maniacs body slamming into him. What I am trying to say is sorry for the repetitive angles, but I didn't think chancing a front shot was worth losing my camera and a couple of teeth for.

The music blared and my ears rang. You could never tell if someone was actually with a band or if they just jumped up onto the stage and grabbed the mic. In short, it was a fun shoot. For my part, I had a great time and plan to take in another show down the road. Hopefully next time I'll have the following day off and not be forced into leaving midway through the second band.